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Month: November 2014

Hello Everyone. I am back once again with a new collection of words for your education and amusement. I would like to start off by apologizing for the huge gap in time since my last blog posts. I have recently begun a new blog to document my journey toward greater fitness (It’s All About Round). Since it is also, in part a school assignment, I have had to give it some greater priority at the present time. I hope that once this class is over, I can balance both blogs more effectively.

For those who may be unfamiliar with these installments, I’ll take a moment to lay out the rules of making such a list. Those of you who ARE familiar can please just smile and nod knowingly. First, it must be a real word that can be found in the dictionary (I used several dictionary sources). Secondly, keeping in the spirit of my blog, it must be family friendly. Lastly, if you could imagine Tigger saying the word, it had a good chance of making the list. The list has exactly 18 words. There are two main reasons for this number. First, the original list had 18 words. Secondly, keeping such a specific number in mind makes the challenge more interesting to me. I’d give a third and fourth reason but I promised you there’d be only two. People from all over send me words to use (and I come up with a few on my own as well). Many of the words I receive comply with the above rules so please feel free to contact me with a word for future volumes. If it lines up with the rules and hasn’t been used before, there’s a good chance I will use it. With that in mind, here is the fifth list.

anachronism – As much as I have always liked the sound of this word, I must admit that I have seldom ever used it. The word refers to something or someone that appears to be chronologically out of place with its setting. For example, someone who could draw a picture of Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone) in an online chat with Samuel Morse (inventor of the telegraph). Imagine the following exchange: RingMyBell: I’m so glad we can chat like this. I never could get the hang of your code. DotDotDash: There’s an app 4 that. 😀 ROFL.

caterwaul – This is a word that means to protest or complain noisily. Unlike anachronism, I HAVE used this word simply because I love the way it sounds. It almost sounds made up. Many guitar aficionados publicly caterwauled about the numerous anachronisms that occurred in the movie Back To The Future.

colloquial – This wonderful word is an adjective that refers to using an informal type of speech. Some might, suggest, for example, that the word y’all is not the truly proper plural form of you. They would suggest that the plural of you is you and that y’all is simply an accepted form of colloquial speech. Many Southern word nerds such as myself would respond by saying: “What are y’all gonna do about it?”

dogmatic – This is another great adjective. It means that someone has very strong beliefs or opinions on a particular issue. The word implies somewhat that such an opinion or belief is not one to be questioned or doubted. Imagine Snoopy and Marmaduke being on opposite sides of a political debate. They would be very likely to be very dogmatic about their personal positions on a given issue. Snoopy: I think the numerous anachronisms in Back To The Future are simply reprehensible. Marmaduke: Maybe you should just sit on top of your doghouse and just enjoy the movie for it’s entertainment value. Snoopy: Good Grief!

dongle – Okay, I am going to shift gears a but here and use a noun instead of an adjective. This word just sounds WAY too funny to me. A dongle is a small device that plugs into an electronic device and acts as an adapter. One can plug a dongle into a port on their TV to broadcast pictures from their phone to their television. One could even broadcast an online video of two people dogmatically caterwauling over whether or not the Internet impedes the education of today’s youth due to its rampant use of colloquial speech. Man, THAT was wordy!

eponymous – This word refers to something or someone that lends its name to something. Many recording artists for example have an eponymous title for their first album. For example, one can listen to the Eddie Van Halen play a finger blistering solo in the song Eruption from his band’s eponymous debut (Van Halen). This gives me an excuse to use an adjective that sounds like hippopotamus and that makes me giggle.

feckless – This word has more than one meaning (sort of). It can me that something was weak or ineffective for its intended result. Something that is feckless has not effect (that’s how I’ve remembered it since I was a kid). A person would be referred to as feckless if they are regarded as lazy or irresponsible. The protesters fecklessly caterwauled about the proposed hike in bus fares. They portrayed the bus company’s CEO as a feckless bigwig who dogmatically proposed the rate hike without just cause.

fervor – OK, I must confess. This is another word I have used many times over the years simply because it sounds so funny to me. It simply means intensity. An athlete can run in a winter marathon in spite of being mildly ill. In spite of running with tremendous fervor, his efforts proved feckless. Despite his fervor, he only left with a fever.

harangue – I have been at the receiving end of this word throughout my childhood. It usually refers to one receiving a lecture. Once my mother relentlessly caterwauled because of the way I at her homemade lemon pie. I ate the filling but left the light topping uneaten. In other words, I got a harangue because I left the meringue.

harbinger – This is a great word to have in one’s arsenal. It’s a word that helps someone sound smarter without making them sound like they are just trying to sound smarter. The word refers to something that foreshadows something to come. For example, in 2008 I was sick and unemployed. After two weeks of ailing in bed, I went to a job interview and was immediately hired. The interview and subsequent hiring was a harbinger of a brighter future for my family.

jocund – This is a word that I have really never used. That is a shame because it implies that one is being playful or mirthful. It could easily describe a class clown. One who is joking is being jocund. You’d think with an example like that that I would use such an adjective more often. I shall certainly try in the future.

logodaedaly – I LOVE this word. WHY? Simply because it is largely what I am trying to promote when I write these pieces. The word refers to the art of being gifted with vocabulary. One with a gift of logodaedaly knows what words mean and how to use them appropriately. One can go right ahead and call you a pretentious, pedantic word nerd. If you a word such as logodaedaly, then their insulting caterwauling shall be rendered feckless as you use their words as a badge of honor.

mollycoddle – This word can be a verb or a noun. As a verb, it can refer to treating someone with inappropriate kindness or attention. As a noun, it means that someone has been mollycoddled. For example, a man who thought his brother in-law’s stretch of unemployment went for far too long given the current job market. Instead of mollycoddling him with a gift of cash, he gave his brother in-law a stack of resume paper and a brand new necktie.

palliate – This was a word provided to me by a friend. It can mean making something less harsh to endure (or more palatable if you will). It can also refer to an effort to downplay something or “water it down”. Because the runner’s wife sympathized with her husband’s passion for running (in spite of being ill), she mollycoddled her husband with a blanket, hot soup and fuzzy slippers in an effort to palliate his feeling of humiliation.

penchant – This words give weight to the unwritten rule of logodaedaly that if a word is French in origin, it gives the impression of sounding smarter. The word simply refers to a strong tendency or inclination. A class clown has a seemingly inborn penchant for jocund behavior while the teacher delivers a boring harangue about talking in class.

pundit – This is a word that can compliment someone or act as a veiled insult. It refers to someone who professes to be an authority on a particular subject. This is especially appropriate when they use mass media to display their presumed expertise. A politician can try to portray herself as a dogmatic pundit on local issues. Her efforts will appear feckless if journalists succeed in proving her to be misinformed on the same said issues.

sconce – Oh my goodness, I JUST LOVE the sound of this word. A sconce is simply a bracket or a wall stand that holds a light source such as a bulb or a candle. I love this word so much that I would hire an interior decorator to put at least one sconce in every room in my house just so that I can say that word every time I enter a room. I would even go further to teach this word to a seven year old child. Mom and Dad can hear them say “SCONCE” all day long (and know what it means). I just promoted logodaedaly in seven year olds everywhere. You’re welcome, Mom and Dad.

verisimilitude – This word is a REAL mouth full (literally). The word refers to the quality of something seeming real. For example, smart phones uses virtual keyboards that produce clicking sounds when the keys are pressed. This type of sound is called haptic feedback. The sound gives a quality of verisimilitude by producing sounds like an actual computer keyboard. A person who sells copies of their recently published book might make a “CHA-CHING” sound. This provides the verisimilitude of a cash register.

Well, there you have it, folks – another list of funny sounding words with legitimate uses. If you found that I omitted words from this list (or the previous volumes). Feel free to chime in as long as they meet the guidelines (funny and family friendly). I hope you enjoyed this Well, there you have it, folks – another list of funny sounding words with legitimate uses. If you found that I omitted words from this list (or the previous volumes). Feel free to chime in as long as they meet the guidelines (funny and family friendly). I hope you enjoyed this trip through the labyrinth of logodaedaly. That last sentence made die hard word nerds everywhere say: OHHHHH!, I see what you did there!”